When it comes to budget surf travel, choosing your destination is crucial (duh) as the cost of living and location determine how much your surf trip will cost .

A place’s geographical location will also impact how much you pay for flights and transport, relevant to where you live. In short, the further you travel, the more you pay.  

But so we can get started on the right foot, here’s a list of every major surf destination on earth, broken down into Budget, mid-range, and luxurious, categorized into an average weekly spend. 

Budget (Average Weekly Cost <$400) 

• Nicaragua 
• Sri Lanka 
• Ecuador 
• El Salvador 
• Morocco 
• Bali/Indonesia 
• Mexico 
• South Africa 
• Philippines 

Mid-range (Average Weekly Cost <$600) 

• Peru 
• Portugal 
• Brazil 
• Chile 
• France 
• Ireland 
• Australia
• New Zealand 
• Panama 

Luxury / Expensive (Average Weekly Cost $1000+) 

• Hawaii 
• Tahiti 
• California/USA 
• Maldives 
• Mentawaii 
• Fiji 
• Costa Rica 

In short, choosing a destination, from the budget section of this list, will mean you get more waves for less money, and for scoring waves on a shoestring, this is the goal–maximize your wave count and minimize your expenditure.

These costs are also estimated based on everything you would realistically spend getting there and staying somewhere half decent. But you can do each a lot cheaper depending on how feral you’re willing to go. (More on this later). 

If you’re undecided on a destination, dive into some of these blog posts or my YouTube videos for more information.